The Years of The Marauders
by Gryffintherin
Summary: A collection of short stories about the Marauders and their years while at Hogwarts. Stays more or less accurate to the book. Enjoy!


_Hello everyone. I'm Alexa, AKA Bookworm2795. My friend and I are using this account to co-write Harry Potter stories. We'll update maybe once a week or as often as possible. Thank's for reading. Review please!_

_James and The Giant Squid__**  
><strong>__Year 5._

Lily stomped down the stairs, fuming. A first year gaped at her and she snapped at him, "Stop looking!"

The first year scurried off and she pushed her hair up into the hat. A few bright green strands still poked out, but it was better than nothing.

"I am going to kill that arse…" she snarled under her breath. She entered the hall and walked right up to the Marauders. They were all laughing intensely as James mimed someone yanking at their hair and freaking out. She was sure they were mocking her.

She put her hands on her hips and pressed her lips together. "Hello, James." She said calmly.

James grinned and sat down. "Oh. Hey Lily! How're you?"

She glared at him. "How do you think I am?" she asked in a quiet voice.

He shrugged. "Well, good I hope." He leaned forward. "Hmm. Why are you wearing a hat?"

"You know why." She whispered. "My hair is green!" she shouted at him, leaning forward. _"Green!_And I think you know why."

He feigned innocence. "Oh, I'm so sorry. Of course I don't know."

Lily growled and balled her hands. "I will get back, James Potter. You mark my words." She said, staring him right in the eyes.

James smiled. "Well, good luck sweetie."

"Arugghh!" she turned on her heels and sped off, towards the Ravenclaw table. She walked up to one of her closest friends, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth had her head down, a quill crushed in her hand. She was snoring quietly and some of her hair was in the soup she had been eating.

"Ellie!" Lily shook her. "Elle! Get up!"

"Mmm?" Elizabeth sat up. Words had been stained into her skin from the essay her face had been pressed into

"I need your help." Lily said.

"Ugh. Please not today. I have quidditch practice." Elizabeth muttered.

"Not today. Some time soon, though." Lily sat by her and clasped her hands. She tapped her pinky on the wood table.

"So. Why d'you need my help?" Elizabeth asked. She put her things in her bag and started on the soup again, not noticing the few strands of dark brown hair that had made it in.

"Your boyfriend and his friend decided to play a prank." Lily muttered.

Elizabeth didn't react much. "Yeah… they always do that."

"On me."

"Nothing new."

"They used permanent ink to dye my hair green."

Elizabeth did react to this. "W.. green?" she said. "How green?"

Lily yanked on a few strings and held them out. "Bright, bright green. Neon."

"Ew." Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. "Well, that's harsh. Permanent?" she asked.

"I'm almost sure. I washed my hair at least six times already." Lily told her. "Or it may just be Tiffin's Slow Fade."

"Hopefully." Elizabeth went into one of her deep thought moments. "What are James' pet peeves?"

"His hair being messed up, loosing, being embarrassed, and me rejecting him." Lily said.

"Hey guys!" Emily plopped down between them.

"I need your help coming up with a plan to get back at James and Sirius for dying my hair." Lily said immediately.

"Ahahah." Emily grinned. "Ni-ice. Any ideas so far?"

"Well… tomorrow is Friday, we can think more, then we have all weekend to pull the prank." Elizabeth said.

"Great." Lily grinned and looked over her shoulder at James.

"James, I really think you should apologize." Lupin said with a worried look.

James waved his hand. "It'll be fine, I promise. What can three girls come up with?"

"Considering that Lily Evans, Elizabeth Till and Emily Williams are involved, a lot." Lupin told him.

Sirius grimaced. "Elizabeth..." He paled. "Maybe we should apologize." His girlfriend scared him more than anything, and he wasn't afraid to admit it.

James shook his head. "We're not apologizing. We take what they throw at us like men."

"We're fifteen."

"You know what I mean."

The next day, Lily, Emily and Elizabeth had the prank fully planned out. They all went to their classes as calmly as usual. However, at the end of the day they began getting antsy. The joke was to go around that evening, just before dusk. It was imperative that it be difficult to see.

"Ready?" Lily whispered to them as they met up, exactly one hour after school had ended.

"Yep." Elizabeth smiled.

"Ready as ever." Emily replied.

"Know your spots?"

"Of course."

"Plan Brown Squid is a go." Lily turned and walked away towards the Great Lake. Elizabeth ran away towards the Quiddtich Field, where the boys were bound to be. Emily walked into the woods casually, her wand at the ready.

"Sirius, what did you do now?" James whispered. Elizabeth stormed onto the field and marched right up to them. They had just coasted in.

"Where is Lucy?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"Uh…" Sirius gulped. Lucy was her very expensive Persian cat. She loved it above almost everything else, and beat up anyone who tried to hurt it.

Elizabeth shifted her weight to her left foot. "Well?"

"I don't know!" Sirius said. "Why would I know?"

"Because she wasn't in my dorm last night, and I know she loves you. So, what'd you do with her?" she stepped forward. Even though she was a good nine inches shorter than Sirius, he backed up.

"I haven't seen her…" he slowed down. He had seen Lucy. She was in the Gryffindor dorm room the night before, trying to catch a mouse. But he hadn't bothered to pet her or anything.

Elizabeth let out a sound of frustration. "Fine! I'll find her myself!" she turned and walked away.

"Elizabeth! Wait!" Sirius ran after her. "Why are you so worried? She's always running off."

"But it's going to rain." Elizabeth said. "What if she gets wet? And sick."

"I'll help." Sirius finally said. "Where do I look?"

"You check the forest." Elizabeth pointed towards the lake area, where a large opening in the woods was visible.

"Okay. I'll find her, I promise." Sirius kissed her cheek.

"Just find the cat." She muttered, walking away.

Sirius sighed and walked towards the forest. Lucy was probably curled up on Elizabeth's bed at the moment. But he loved her, and wanted to see her happy. So he walked into the woods, against all of his instincts. He wondered why she was being so moody, too. She was rarely so grumpy. Unless she was on- he shook his head quickly, clearing the thought way. Girl problems were not something he liked to dwell on.

"Sirius! Get back here!" James ran after him looking annoyed. He slowed after a moment, unable to see him. He shouldered his broom and walked towards the forest. _I wonder what happened. Did Lupin have an early transformation?_His question was answered a moment later when Lupin ran up, looking worried.

"James!" he said. "I need help."

"Yeah, what was it?" James asked, still walking.

Lupin scrunched his eyebrows together. "Er…. Let's see… uh… oh, yes." He carefully adjusted his walking angle, going more towards the lake. "The History homework."

"What about it?" James asked, getting distracted.

"I was wondering, for the essay, are we supposed to use our notes or the book?"

James didn't realize the trap.

"Notes, I think." He said, still walking.

"Oh, okay." Lupin led him closer to the lake. "Well… thanks!"

"No- wait! Wait. Did you see where Sirius went?" James asked.

Lupin looked around. "I think I saw him go towards the lagoon."

The lagoon wasn't a real lagoon, but a small pool of sparking water that stayed unfrozen all year round. It was warm too, and pretty deep, so people went swimming in it often.

"Wonder why…. Thanks!" James ran off and set his broom down carefully. He approached the lagoon. Waiting for him was not Sirius, but Lily. She didn't notice him though. She was crying loudly and her knees were pulled up to her chin.

"Lily?" James approached her. "Are you okay?"

She looked her with her bloodshot eyes and sniffled. "What do you want, Potter?"

"I was just thinking you looked sad. What's wrong?" James, shockingly, was being genuine.

"I… I lost my mum's ring." Lily said quietly. "A pretty pink one. I dropped it when I was looking at a fungus."

"Where'd you drop it?" James asked.

"In the lagoo-ooonn!" Lily began to sob. "And now it's down there and lost forever!"

"I'll get it." James dropped his bag and slid closer to the water. He peered in and saw something glint in the sun. He made out a small glittery gold ring and reached towards it.

A large pink tentacle shot out of the water, curled itself around his waist, and dragged him in.

"Lu-ucy! Where are you?" Sirius sighed and looked around. He considered just walking back to the castle, but forced himself to forge ahead. After a few minutes he heard a soft little mew. Then another.  
>"Lucy!" he began to run and soon came to a bright clearing. Sitting in the middle, grooming herself was Lucy. She strutted up to Sirius and rubbed against his legs, purring loudly. "What're you doing here?" he lifted her and brushed some dirt out of her fur. "You gave Elizabeth a fright, you know? Don't go off-"<p>

At that moment a large ball of mud smacked into his face, knocking him to his feet. Lucy jumped off his chest and sprinted off, giving off what sounded like a mew/laugh.  
>"Ugghhh!" he sat up and before he could even get to his face he got another hit from the mud, this time right in his face. He took his wand out but another mud bomb got him in the eyes and he dropped it. "Aargghh! Stop!" he wiped the mud, which burned, out of his eyes and struggled to his feet. All at once, five mud balls hit him. Two on the head, another in the gut, and two right at his knees, making him fall again.<p>

James barely had time to inhale before he was submerged. He kicked and thrashed but the squid was much stronger. It dragged him lower, thinking that it was him who had been throwing rocks into the lake.  
>He managed to get a hold of his wand, but the squid snapped it. It shoved the pieces aside and kept strangling James.<br>_Ughhh!_He tried to change into a stag but the squid was throwing him around too much to allow him the space.  
>He slammed into a nasty patch of mud and seaweed and gagged. Water flooded his mouth and everything began to go black.<p>

There was a flash of red and the squid screamed in pain. He closed his eyes and his heart went began to go down. Suddenly he felt water around him. Up his nose, in his mouth, and finally it was all gone. He felt the warmth of the sun and winced.

"Oh, Potter." He heard a heavenly voice say.

"Hhhmm?" he suddenly gasped as he hit the ground. He gasped and curled up, in pure pain. His head was pounding and he was sure that his pinky finger was broken.

"Not very happy right now, are you?" Lily glared at him. He could barely see her through the slits in their eyes.

"Whawazzator?" he mumbled.

Lily just shrugged and smiled. "Consider it payback for everything you've done to me." she said casually.

James sat up and wiped the foul smelling seaweed out of his eyes. He gagged and used his robes to wipe it away. He stood up shakily and coughed at the rotten smell. However, he didn't frown, curse or do anything unpleasant. He simply smiled. "Good job, Evans."

"W-what?" she looked shocked. "Good job?"

"You heard me. I must admit, that was pretty impressive." He dusted off his shoulder. "However, nothing in comparison to what I have planned for you."

She looked dumbstruck. "You're kidding."

He shook his head. "Of course not."

"This must be a bluff."

"Never."

They stared each other down.

"Okay then, Potter. I'll be waiting." Lily finally said.

"Alright. Goodbye, Evans." James flicked his wand, cleaning himself on. Lily turned and walked to the castle. She wasn't nearly as mad as she was confused. Why had James taken the thing so coolly? And was he serious about the prank?

_No._she thought. But then again, she couldn't remember a time when James Potter hadn't kept his word.


End file.
